Crash victim's lawyer notifies Stonington of plans to sue

Stonington — A Waterford man, who was paralyzed when he crashed his motorcycle while trying to avoid a car stopped for a turning school bus in July, plans to take legal action against the town.

An attorney for Christopher A. Quirk, 27, of 106 Spithead Road notified the town Tuesday that he plans to pursue claims of negligence and/or nuisance against one or more town employees who he says are responsible for the crash.

Quirk was a riding south on Pequotsepos Road near the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center when he saw the taillights of a vehicle that had stopped ahead of him. He braked, skidded, was thrown from the motorcycle and then struck by a school bus, according to a police report.

The report states that calculations show Quirk was traveling at a minimum speed of 34.9 miles an hour at the time of the crash. The speed limit on the road is 25 miles per hour.

According to a letter from Quirk's attorney Joseph M. Busher Jr. of Hartford, Quirk suffered paraplegia, numerous broken bones, permanent nerve injury, a head injury and severe permanent injuries to his arms.

He remains hospitalized and has incurred substantial medical bills, lost wages and impairment of his earning capacity, according to the letter.

The letter states that Quirk encountered a vehicle that had stopped due to a school bus exiting the nature center and trying to turn to go northbound on narrow Pequotsepos Road.

The letter states the road is defective and dangerous because of the lack of adequate signs, sight lines and traffic controls as well as narrowness of the road, improper placement of nature center's entrance and exit and lack of adequate shoulders.